The Terminal Part 1

I have thought for a while about doing a blog post, but besides my Mom getting her purse stolen/lost and also her getting into a fender bender last weekend, I have had only work-related nonsense to report.  (She's fine, by the way and I finally got the chance to see inside the police station, so...field trip!)

Onto the work-related nonsense.

We are getting a new credit card machine at work.  Unfortunately, this means that we also have to get a new credit card processing company, which required me to fill out more paperwork than when M and I signed the closing documents on our house.  In triplicate.

We have also had a few snafus (I did not actually know how to properly spell 'snafu') including, but not limited to being misquoted pricing on 3 separate occasions and mis-sending the credit card processing machine, a.k.a. The Terminal, to the wrong place.

The Terminal finally arrives.  I spend 30 minutes talking with Terminal Dude #2 (Terminal Dude#1 may or may not have blacked out after our last conversation, hence the #2) and we set up the machine.  Wrong.  We set it up wrong- it was supposed to run off of Wifi.   In the meantime, The Terminal sits ashamedly on the floor, since I have to steal the fax line out of our printer to get it to work.

All that to lead in to this morning's convo with Terminal Dude #3 (who has miraculously not blacked out from our last conversation) and Terminal Techie Dude.

He tries to 'verify' that I am, in fact, working for my organization by sending me a text message to my cell phone.  I think this is weird and I tell him so.  He tries to verify current information about me from this, which is completely unsuccessful.

Techie Dude: "What is your full name?"

I tell him.

Techie Dude: "That's not the name we have on file.  Perhaps a different last name?"

I tell him my maiden name.

Techie Dude: "What is your current home address?"

Me: "Why do you need to know that for a credit card machine that's for my work?"

Techie Dude: "It's just protocol.  Visa and Mastercard use this as a security check."

I give him my address.

Techie Dude:  "That's not the address we have on file."

Me: "I have lived at that address for 2 1/2 years. Where are you getting this information?  It seems old."

Techie Dude: "It's not - it's from 2013.  We get this from Homeland Security, credit card companies and the Social Security Administration.

Me: "Well, I changed my name over 6 years ago when I got married."

At this point, I am frustrated, but also curious as to why a database from Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration was given to a credit card processing company.  Also, it also causes me to wonder about how the Office of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration does not have any information regarding my current name, address or marital status.

I am almost impressed at this level of incompetence.

After processing all of this, I realize...

I am practically invisible and off the grid.

Cool.